Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A Repeat for the Huskies will be tricky

The Huskies held up the national title in April last season after winning eleven straight games but will they be able to repeat that success come tournament time this season?

The Huskies entered last season as an overwhelming underdog. Their season started out in the best possible way it could have for a team picked to finished 11th in the Big East. UConn rolled in and out of Maui with a 3-0 record that included wins over Kentucky and Michigan St, these wins carried them to a surprising top 10 ranking after the first week of the season. Huskies guard Kemba Walker was lights out in the tournament, averaging 30 points a game and winning MVP honors and continued that all season.

The Huskies then hit the Big East and struggled throughout the conference and headed into the conference tournament as the eleven seed and needing five wins in five days to claim the title, and they did. Kemba Walker brought back his heroics with dazzling leadership and moves while being supported by Alex Oriakhi and Jeremy Lamb. They entered the tournament as a three seed and ran over Bucknell, Cincinnati, San Diego St and Arizona to win the West Region and reach the Final Four in Houston. They later went on to beat Kentucky in the final four match up and Butler in a low scoring championship game to win the title.

UConn's SF/SG Jeremy Lamb

UConn takes a huge blow after the loss of superstar point guard and leading scoring Kemba Walker to the NBA. Walker was the heart and soul of the Huskies team and when they were in dire need of a basket he finished, draining seven winning shots throughout the season. The team played how Kemba Walker was playing. With Walker's headed out they will need to put the team on the skinny shoulders of sharp shooting small forward Jeremy Lamb. Lamb really stepped up as an eleusive threat later on in the season and carried that over into the summer when he was the lead of USA's U-19 team. Lamb will be helped by point guard Shabazz Napier and center Alex Oriakhi.

Other problems for the Huskies include the suspension of Jim Calhoun for a few games and the return of key players for key teams. North Carolina will return as the favorites to win it all after losing in the elite eight last season and returning their entire starting lineup and key bench players to the squad. Kentucky and Ohio St will also be tough to beat as the season wears on with Terrence Jones and the nations best recruiting class coming in for the Wildcats and Jared Sullinger and William Buford returning for the Buckeyes. If the Huskies want to win that title they will likely need to go through one if not all of these teams throughout the season or in the tournament.

UConn should start out the season in the Top 10 and maybe in the Top 5 but I feel that they lack the leadership they need to start off well and thrive. Later on in the season during Big East play if a leader emerges the Huskies have the talent to have a shot at back to back titles but it will be a major challenge.